How You Can Effectively Increase Your Concentration

Focus and concentration can be difficult to master. Surely most people want to learn how to improve their focus and increase their concentra...

Focus and concentration can be difficult to master. Surely most people want to learn how to improve their focus and increase their concentration. But do they? We live in a noisy world, and constant distractions can make it difficult to focus.

With this article, we will help you to increase and maintain your concentration. We will explain the basics to sharpen your mind and focus on the essentials. Whether you want to focus on your goals in life or work, here's everything you need to know.

What are concentration and focus?

First things first: What is concentration? Experts define focus as the act of concentrating interest or activity on one thing. That's a somewhat boring definition, but behind this definition lies an important insight. If you want to focus on one thing, you have to ignore many other things first.

You can put it another way: You can only concentrate if you have said yes to one option and no to all other options. In other words, elimination is a prerequisite for concentration.

Of course, focus doesn't require a permanent no, but it does require a present no. You always have the option to do something else later, but in the present moment, focus requires you to only do one thing. Concentration is the key to productivity because if you say no to every other option, you can finish the one thing that's left-right.

Why can't I concentrate?

Now to the important question: What can we do to focus on the things that matter and ignore the things that don't?

Most people have no trouble concentrating. You have trouble making decisions. What this means is that most healthy people have a brain capable of focusing when we're clearing the distractions out of the way. Have you ever had a task that you absolutely had to do? And what happened? You did them because the deadline made the decision for you. You may have procrastinated before, but when things got urgent and you were forced to make a decision, you acted first.

Instead of making the difficult decision to focus on one thing, we often convince ourselves that multitasking is the better solution. However, this is ineffective.

The myth of multitasking

Technically we are able to do two things at the same time. For example, it is possible to watch TV while cooking dinner or answer an email while on the phone.

However, it is impossible to concentrate on two tasks at the same time. You either listen to the TV and the overflowing pot of pasta is the background noise, or you attend to the pot of pasta and the TV is the background noise. In every single moment, you focus on one OR the other.

Multitasking forces your brain to switch your attention from one task to another very quickly. It wouldn't be a big deal if the human brain could seamlessly transition from one task to the next, but it can't.

How to focus and increase your attention span

Let's talk about overcoming our tendency to multitask and focus on one thing at a time. With so many opportunities open to you, how do you know what to focus on? How do you know where to focus your energy and attention?

Measure your results

Concentration often drops because there is a lack of feedback. Your brain has a natural need to know whether or not you are making progress toward your goals. And it's impossible to know that without getting feedback. From a practical point of view, this means that we need to measure our results.

We all have areas of life that we say are important to us but don't measure. That's a shame because measuring keeps focus and concentration. The things we measure are the things we improve. Only through numbers and clear tracking do we have any idea of ​​whether we've gotten better or worse. The tasks you measure are the ones you can focus on better.

Unfortunately, we often avoid measuring because we are afraid of what the numbers tell us about ourselves. The trick is to realize that measuring isn't a judgment of who you are, just feedback on where you stand.

It is best to measure yourself to discover, to find out, to understand. Measure and control to get to know yourself better. Measure to see if you are actually spending time on the things that are important to you. Measuring will help you focus on the important things and ignore the unimportant things.

Focus on the process, not the event

The second thing you can do to orient yourself for the long term is to focus on the process rather than the event. Too often we see success as an event that can be achieved and completed.

Here are some common examples:

Many people see health as an event: "If I just lose 5 kilos, then I'll be in shape."

Many people see entrepreneurship as an event: "If we can get our company to go public, then we have it It's done.”

Many people see art as an event: “If I can just get my work exhibited in a larger gallery, then I'll have the credibility I need.”

These are just a few of the many ways we categorize success as a single event. But when you look at the people who don't lose sight of their goals, you realize it's not the events or the results that set them apart. It's the commitment to the process. Of course, the funny thing is that this focus on the process will allow you to still enjoy the results.

If you want to be a great writer, having a bestselling book is wonderful. But the only way to get that result is to fall in love with the writing process.

If you want the world to know about your company, going public would be great. But the only way to get that result is to fall in love with the process of marketing.

If you want to be in the best shape of your life, you may need to lose 10 pounds. But the only way to achieve that goal is to fall in love with the process of eating healthy and exercising consistently.

If you want to get significantly better at anything, you have to fall in love with the process of doing it. You have to fall in love with building the identity of someone who gets the job done instead of just dreaming about the results you want. It's our natural tendency to focus on outcomes and goals, but focusing on processes produces better results in the long run.

How to increase your concentration: advanced examples

Even when you've learned to love the process and know how to better focus on your goals, implementing those goals on a daily basis can still be messy. Here are some additional ways you can improve your concentration and focus on what matters most.

Choose an anchor task

One of the most important improvements you can make is to give each workday one (and only one) priority. Even if you plan to do other tasks throughout the day, your priority task is the only one that is non-negotiable and absolutely must be done. This task is also called the "anchor task" because it's the pillar that sustains the rest of your day. The good thing about choosing a priority is that it naturally guides your behavior, forcing you to organize your life around that responsibility.

Manage your energy, not your time

When a task requires your full attention, schedule it for a time of day when you also have the energy to really focus on it. For example, some people find that their creative energy is at its highest in the morning. Then you are often still very fresh. Then you can concentrate best and also make the best strategic decisions for professional or personal matters.

So what do you do? You plan creative tasks for the morning. You then do all other business tasks in the afternoon. This includes interviews, answering emails, phone calls and Skype chats, data analysis, and calculations. Almost every productivity strategy is obsessed with managing time better, but time is useless if you don't have the energy it takes to get the task you're working on done.

Never check your email before noon

Concentration is about eliminating distractions. Email can be one of the biggest distractions of all. If you don't check email early in the day, you can spend the morning pursuing your own agenda instead of responding to someone else's agenda. This is a big win because you don't waste mental energy thinking about all the messages in your inbox. It is clear that for many people it is not possible to wait until the afternoon, but we would like to challenge you. Can you wait until 10am? How about 9 a.m.? 8:30 am? The exact time doesn't matter. It's about taking time in the morning to focus on what's most important to you without the rest of the world distract you.

Leave your phone in another room

Try to ignore your phone for the first few hours of the day. It's much easier to stay focused when you're not distracted by texts, calls, or notifications.

Work in full-screen mode

Whenever you use an application on your computer, you should ideally use full-screen mode. When you read an article on the web, your browser should then take up the entire screen. The same applies to writing or using programs. It is best to set up your desktop so that the menu bar is automatically hidden. When you work like this, you can't see the time, other application icons, or other on-screen distractions. It's amazing how much this then affects your focus and concentration. When you see an icon on your screen, you'll occasionally be reminded to click on it. However, if you remove the visual cue, the urge to be distracted will go away within minutes.

Remove any tasks that might distract you from your morning focus

Make it a habit to do the most important things first every day. This is particularly valuable because then the urgencies of the day have not yet crept in. You can even go so far as to move your first meal to around 12 p.m. each day. This gives you a little more time in the morning to focus on your work instead of preparing breakfast.

Conclusion

Regardless of what strategy you choose to employ, remember that once you find the world distracting you again, there is only one thing you need to focus on. You don't even have to be successful in the beginning. You just have to start.

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